Resource conservation and stewardship in Canada is governed through a decentralized, multi-sector array of constitutional authority administered through federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments (Ray et al 2021; Campbell and Thomas 2002). Stemming from the Constitution Act, legislative control over ecological conservation has been a reactionary process of assigning authority to multiple jurisdictions over new environmental issues as they arise, which creates a complex and overlapping distribution of governance (Becklumb 2013). This patchwork of authority is most prominent in Pacific salmon management due to the complicated geographic nature of their anadromous life cycle, spanning a variety of freshwater and marine ecosystems coast-wide and across international boundaries.
While legislation and programs may often operate on a sector-by-sector and individual resource basis, integrated stewardship relies on scale-appropriate planning and decision making (Ray et al 2021). The need for collaborative, transparent decision-making in salmon management is recognized throughout policies, plans, and initiatives, such as the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative and the Wild Salmon Policy. Successful conservation and rebuilding of Pacific salmon therefore requires coordination of activities across discrete administrative responsibilities and regulatory frameworks. However, such coordination requires adequate organizational capacity and systems for effective implementation to ensure that regulatory controls and mitigation activities address underlying threats and factors limiting productivity.
In this report, we present a framework for relating threats to salmon with their legislative and regulatory context within British Columbia. We define discrete areas of administrative responsibility for Pacific salmon as “management domains” and conduct a review of legislation to assess the specificity or scope of each clause in relation to Pacific salmon. Our purpose for creating a management domains framework is to:
Management domains represent a reframing of multi-jurisdictional issues by administrative concern rather than specific agency, which can mainstream conservation strategies focused on threats to salmon life history. Since management domains are defined as a “separation of administrative concerns,” it is important that each domain is categorized distinctly to minimize grey areas and blurring between individual domains or the exercise would fail to be useful. Aside from aspects of governance and organizational structure, 13 specific management domains were delineated for the purpose of this exercise. The domains were developed to comprehensively encompass the legislative context, administrative functions, and anthropogenic threats related to Pacific salmon in British Columbia.
We used the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat categories (Salafsky et al 2008) to classify legislation into anthropogenic activities that affect salmon. IUCN threat categories are widely used to assess threats as part of IUCN red list assessments, as well as in status assessments for Pacific salmon populations conducted by the Committee for the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). We assigned level 1 and level 2 threat classification hierarchies from the IUCN categories into management domains to separate anthropogenic activities into different areas of administrative concern.
Historically, much of the management decisions and activities related to salmon have been in response to identifiable threats to salmon health and population status. One common framework used to describe impacts to salmon are the Four H’s: Habitat, Hydropower, Harvest, and Hatcheries. Each management domain, as defined in this report, intentionally aligns with one of the four H’s. However, there are aspects of salmon management associated with governance and agreements rather than one of the other H’s, which was categorized as “Handshaking.” Because the management domains are centered around salmon/habitat impacts, this allows structurally for a clearer alignment with IUCN threat categories.
Figure 1: Flowchart showing alignment of Pacific salmon threat factors (Four H’s) with Management Domains in relation to legislation and jurisdiction.
Assessment of legislative context is prone to subjective interpretation. The inclusion and exclusion of both the overall acts and the sections within the acts creates points of assumption and bias. For this exercise we cast as wide a net as possible and created a process that is publicly accessible, automated, and repeatable. Other researchers may repeat this process as future legislation and language changes. The process steps are:
We focused our review on established Canadian federal and British Columbian provincial legislation (acts and regulations) for inclusion in the management domain process. We did not include specific departmental policy frameworks and processes throughout this exercise unless specifically referenced in the statutes, because these executive strategies are prone to changes in the political, administrative, and budgetary landscape. Indigenous legislation, Yukon Territorial legislation, municipal bylaws, and international conventions were not included explicitly. Although these laws are important for management of Pacific salmon, considering these regionally diverse rules was outside the scope of this legislative review.
The Canadian Legal Information Institute website, CanLII, provides an excellent resource for searching federal and provincial acts and regulations by keywords. We created a systematic process for querying legislation by:
Through the CanLII website, the user may look up the keywords queried in each act and regulation chosen. This allows the user to quickly assess the context of the word in the legislation and determine if the section is relevant to Pacific salmon. The full list of legislation reviewed in this process is available in Appendix I.
The decentralized overlapping patchwork of Pacific salmon legislation in Canada creates a dynamic such that each act and regulation may contain a variety of administrative responsibilities, possibly attributed to different agencies. However, each act and regulation is comprised of sections and subsections that contain individual clauses that are more specific to a particular subject. For the purpose of the review, we used the individual clause as the sample unit for assignment into management domains and other corresponding attributes.
We parsed the HTML files using R and the rvest package to extract the text of each section and subsection grouped by heading. The text was then cleaned and standardized to remove any extraneous characters or formatting issues. Each section was assigned a unique identifier, and metadata such as the act name, jurisdiction, and legislation type (act or regulation) were recorded.
The Management Domains and IUCN threats were assigned to each section based on a keyword list developed from the IUCN threat categories. The keywords were used to identify specific sections and subsections within the legislation. Each section was then assigned to one or more Management Domain and IUCN threat based on the presence of these keywords.Iteratively, we adjusted the keyword list to ensure that it accurately captured the scope of each Management Domain and IUCN threat. The keyword list is available in Appendix II.
We developed a scope classification system to categorize the sections based on their relevance to Pacific salmon. The scope was determined by the specificity of the language used in the section. The Scope categories were defined as follows:
Scope 1 was assigned separately to sections with the specific salmon keywords. Scope 2-3 were assigned during the Management Domain and IUCN Threat assignment.
Similar the Management Domain assignment, we created a Clause Type keyword list to assess the nature or purposes of the clauses. Using language patterns within the legislation, we grouped Clause Type by:
A summary of results from the initial iterations of the automated compendium are shown below. As the keywords become less specific to salmon, the number of Procedural Elements increases. The compendium is available as an R object, which can be used to query specific sections and subsections by Management Domain, IUCN Threat, Scope, and Clause Type. The full compendium is available in the Full_legislation_compendium.rds file and can be loaded into R using the readRDS() function. The compendium is also available as a CSV file for download from GitHub.
Using the ‘1 - Salmon’ scope for Procedural Elements shows the Type A Legislation along with a comparison of the number of Procedural Elements by Jurisdiction. The results are shown in the bar chart below, which displays the number of Procedural Elements for each piece of legislation that is specific to salmon. The chart is color-coded by jurisdiction (Federal or Provincial) to highlight the distribution of Procedural Elements across different legislative frameworks.
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Salafsky, N., Salzer, D., Stattersfield, A.J., Hilton-Taylor, C., Nuegarten, R., Butchart, S.H.M., Collen, B., Cox, N., Master, L.L., O’Connor, S., Wilkie, D., 2008. A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: unified classifications of threats and actions. Conserv. Biol. 22, 897–911.
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2 – Definitions
2.1 – Purpose of Act
2.2 – Application
3 – Provincial rights not affected
4 – Licences to take spawn
5 – Designation
5 – Certificate of designation
5 – Presentation of certificate
5 – Laws of certain First Nations
5.1 – Exercise of powers
6.1 – Measures to maintain fish stocks
6.1 – Limit reference point
6.1 – Publication of decision
6.2 – Plan to rebuild
6.2 – Amendment
6.2 – Endangered or threatened species
6.2 – Restoration measures
6.3 – Regulations
7 – Fishery leases and licences
7 – Default of payment of fine
8 – Fees
9.1 – Powers of Minister
9.1 – Application of order
9.2 – Duty to comply
9.3 – Duration
9.4 – Amendment of order
9.5 – Notice
9.5 – If notice not given
9.6 – Inconsistency
10 – Allocation of fish
10 – Quantity in licence
18 – Licences for lobster pounds
21 – Devices to prevent escape of fish
21 – Removal
23 – Fishing in limits leased to another prohibited
23.1 – Taking cetaceans into captivity
23.1 – Exception
24 – Seines, nets, etc., not to obstruct navigation
25 – Setting gear during close time
25 – Removal of gear
25 – Officer’s discretion
29 – Obstructing passage of fish or waters
29 – Removal
31 – Permit required
31 – Exception by Minister
33 – Unlawful sale or possession
33.1 – Definition of “fishing plan”
33.1 – Contravention of fishing plan
33.1 – Conditions of prosecution
34.1 – Factors
34.2 – Standards and codes of practice
34.2 – Consultation
34.3 – Studies, etc. - management or control of obstruction
34.3 – Minister’s order
34.3 – Modification, repair and maintenance
34.3 – Obstruction of free passage of fish
34.3 – Exception - removal for repairs
34.4 – Exception
35 – Harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat
35 – Exception
35.1 – Designated project
35.1 – Work, undertaking or activity designated by Minister
35.2 – Requirement to provide information
35.2 – Powers of Minister
35.2 – Fish habitat restoration plan
35.2 – Regulations
36 – Throwing overboard of certain substances prohibited
37 – Minister may require plans and specifications
38 – Power to designate
38 – Authority to enter
38 – Duty to notify - death of fish
38 – Duty to notify - harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat
38 – Duty to take corrective measures
38 – Report
38 – Corrective measures
38 – Inconsistency
38 – Regulations
39 – Search
39 – Authority to issue warrant
39 – When warrant not necessary
40 – Other offences
40 – Matters of proof
40 – Application of fines
42.01 – Definitions
42.02 – Contents
42.03 – Use of habitat credit within service area
42.1 – Annual report
43 – Regulations
43 – Regulations exempting certain Canadian fisheries waters
43.3 – Regulations - Minister
47 – Interpretation
49 – Inspection
49 – Operation of data processing systems and copying equipment
49 – Duty to assist
49 – Disposition of samples
49 – Warrant required to enter dwelling-house
49 – Authority to issue warrant
49 – Stopping and detaining vessel or vehicle
49.1 – Search
49.1 – Authority to issue warrant
49.1 – Where warrant not necessary
49.1 – Powers during search
50 – Arrest
51 – Seizure of fishing vessel, etc.
52 – Entry by fishery officer
53 – Disputes
54 – Distances between fisheries
55 – Boundaries of estuary fishing
56 – Gurry grounds
56.1 – Certificate of analyst as proof
59 – Authority to provinces to grant leases for oyster cultivation
60 – Vacant public property
61 – Persons who may be required to provide information
61 – Information that may be required
61 – Duty to keep records - legally caught fish
61 – Duty to provide information
61 – Idem
61.1 – Information required by the Minister
62 – Obstruction
63 – False statements
63 – False records
70 – Custody of seized things
70 – Request by officer or guardian
70 – Perishables
71 – Detention of seized things
71 – Return on deposit of security
71 – Return where proceedings not instituted
71 – Order to extend detention
71.01 – Continued detention not required
71.01 – Order of forfeiture
71.01 – Notice of application
71.01 – Appearance before court
71.01 – Forfeiture or return
71.1 – Recovery of costs
72 – Forfeiture of fish
72 – Forfeiture of fish - other cases
72 – Forfeiture where ownership not ascertainable
73 – Disposal of forfeited things
73 – Disposal where ownership not ascertained
73 – Exception
73.1 – Return of things not forfeited
73.1 – Exception
73.2 – Release of seized fish
75 – Application by person claiming interest
75 – Order by judge
77 – Exception
79.2 – Orders of court
79.7 – Procedure
79.7 – Content of ticket
79.7 – Notice of forfeiture
79.7 – Consequences of payment
86.1 – Definitions
86.2 – Use of measures
86.91 – Disclosure by fishery officer, fishery guardian or inspector
86.91 – Disclosure to insurance company
86.92 – Government records
86.93 – Disclosure of records
87 – Application of Act to High Seas
87 – Regulations
87.1 – Powers of Fisheries Officers - waters and territory of foreign state
89 – Interpretation
92 – AMENDMENTS NOT IN FORCE
2 – Definitions
23.3 – Exception to the Criminal Code - scientific research
23.3 – Issuance of licence
23.5 – Exception to the Criminal Code - scientific research by federal employees
29 – Obstructing passage of fish or waters
29 – Tidal streams
32.1 – Issuance of permit
34 – Definitions
34.3 – Minister’s order
34.3 – Regulations
36 – Throwing overboard of certain substances prohibited
36 – Disposal of remains, etc.
36 – Deposit of deleterious substance prohibited
36 – Deposits authorized by regulation
36 – Regulations for authorizing certain deposits
36 – Regulations - Minister
36 – Directions by the Minister
37 – Minister may require plans and specifications
38 – Authority to enter
38 – Duty to notify - deleterious substance
40 – Matters of proof
42 – Civil liability to Her Majesty
42 – Liability to fishermen
42 – Exception
43 – Regulations
43 – Amendments to list of aquatic invasive species
57 – Waters for propagation of fish
86.93 – Disclosure of records
92 – AMENDMENTS NOT IN FORCE
43.3 – Regulations - Minister
74 – Definitions
92 – Five-year review
1 – Definitions
7 – Rights acquired under authorizations
17 – Sensitive streams mitigation
47 – Remediation orders in relation to foreign matter in stream
60 – Remediation orders in relation to foreign matter in well
67 – Order limiting planning process or recommendations
68 – Content of plan terms of reference
95 – Inquiry powers
97 – Contempt proceeding for uncooperative person
105 – Appeals to appeal board
107 – High penalty offences
109 – Creative sentencing
112 – Time limit for prosecuting offence
117.1 – Authority to collect, use and disclose certain personal information
124 – General regulation-making powers
128 – Regulations respecting sensitive streams
1 – Definitions
2 – Water use purposes
5 – Vesting water in government
6 – Use of water
7 – Rights acquired under authorizations
8 – Rights and permissions subject to Act
9 – Licences
10 – Use approvals
11 – Changes in and about a stream
12 – Application and decision maker initiative procedures
13 – Objections to applications and decision maker initiatives
14 – Powers respecting applications and decision maker initiatives
16 – Mitigation measures
17 – Sensitive streams mitigation
19 – Licences for power purposes
20 – Purpose, precedence and appurtenancy
21 – When final licence may be issued
22 – Precedence of rights
23 – Thirty-year review of licence terms and conditions
24 – Permits over Crown land
25 – Transfer of authorization, change approval or permit
26 – Amendment or substitution of authorization, change approval or permit
27 – Transfer of appurtenancy
28 – Apportionment of rights under licences
29 – Rights and responsibilities of applicants and holders
30 – Beneficial use
31 – Abandonment of rights under an authorization
32 – Licensee’s right to expropriate land
35 – Entry on land in case of urgency
36 – Joint construction or use of works may be ordered
37 – Power to authorize extension of rights under licence
38 – Appointment of water bailiffs
39 – Water reservations
40 – Treaty first nation water reservations
41 – Nisg_a’a water reservation
42 – Issue of new licence
43 – Water objectives
44 – Definitions
45 – No new dams on protected rivers
46 – Prohibition on introducing foreign matter into stream
47 – Remediation orders in relation to foreign matter in stream
49 – Restrictions on constructing or decommissioning wells and related activities
50 – Restrictions respecting well pumps and flow tests
51 – Proof of qualifications and insurance
52 – Controlling artesian flow during construction
54 – Well caps or well covers
55 – Well identification
56 – Decommissioning or deactivating well
57 – Well reports
58 – Well operation
59 – Prohibition on introducing foreign matter into well
60 – Remediation orders in relation to foreign matter in well
62 – Drilling authorizations
63 – Water analyses for new or altered wells
64 – Definitions
65 – Order designating area for planning process
66 – Order establishing plan development process
67 – Order limiting planning process or recommendations
68 – Content of plan terms of reference
69 – Other planning processes
70 – Information to be considered
71 – Notice to affected persons
72 – Powers for development of plan
73 – Plan content
74 – Submission of proposed plan to minister
75 – Acceptance of plan
76 – Plan regulations - effect on statutory decisions
77 – Plan regulations - effect on approval by approving officer
78 – Plan regulations - restriction or prohibition on use of land or resources
79 – Plan regulations - reduction of water rights
80 – Plan regulations - directions regarding works or operations
81 – Plan regulations - relationship with other planning processes
82 – Plan regulations - dedicated agricultural water
83 – Plan regulations - restrictions on groundwater activities
84 – General provisions in relation to plan regulations
85 – Review and amendment of plans
87 – Critical environmental flow protection orders
88 – Fish population protection orders
89 – Right of access to land and premises by authorized persons
90 – Entry warrant
91 – Power of comptroller to authorize actions
92 – Power to amend or revoke order
93 – Powers of engineers and officers
94 – Suspension and cancellation of rights and permissions
95 – Inquiry powers
98 – Recovery of amounts owing for work performed
99 – Administrative monetary penalties
100 – Notice of intent to impose administrative monetary penalty
102 – Compliance agreements
103 – Effect of imposing administrative monetary penalty
105 – Appeals to appeal board
106 – General offences
107 – High penalty offences
114 – Administration
115 – Advisory boards
116 – Records and reporting
117.1 – Authority to collect, use and disclose certain personal information
118 – Fees, rentals and charges
119 – Protection of officials
120 – Restriction on proceedings respecting decisions under Act
121 – No compensation
122 – Liability of owner for damage remains
123 – Authorization or permit as evidence
124 – General regulation-making powers
125 – Fees, rentals and charges
126 – Regulations respecting administration and governance
127 – Regulations respecting licensing, diversion and use of water and related matters
128 – Regulations respecting sensitive streams
129 – Regulations respecting streams and stream protection
130 – Regulations respecting groundwater and groundwater works
131 – Regulations respecting measuring, testing and reporting
132 – Regulations respecting water sustainability plans
135 – Regulations closing or restricting access to water source
136 – Regulations requiring authorizations for domestic use of groundwater
137 – Minister’s regulations restricting groundwater activities
138 – Transition - power purposes
139 – Transition - water use purposes
140 – Transition - groundwater licensing
141 – Transition - section 39 water reservations
142 – Transition - water sustainability plans
1 – Definitions
9 – Licences
15 – Environmental flow needs
29 – Rights and responsibilities of applicants and holders
42 – Issue of new licence
43 – Water objectives
64 – Definitions
66 – Order establishing plan development process
86 – Declarations of significant water shortage
87 – Critical environmental flow protection orders
89 – Right of access to land and premises by authorized persons
91 – Power of comptroller to authorize actions
99 – Administrative monetary penalties
109 – Creative sentencing
115 – Advisory boards
117.1 – Authority to collect, use and disclose certain personal information
125 – Fees, rentals and charges
127 – Regulations respecting licensing, diversion and use of water and related matters
The following interactive table contains the full compendium of legislation by Management Domain and IUCN Threat category. Search topics by domain and salmon threats to view applicable legislation.